December 06, 2008, 10:20AM

The attack on Mumbai potentially inflames regional politics just as the 9/11 attack led to an inflamed relationship between America and the rest of the world. Al-Qaeda benefited by Bush's response of militarism, as outlawed Lashkar-e-Taiba would benefit by a military response on Pakistan by India. This is classic political divide-and-conquer. If a small extremist group can so inflame a... Full story »

December 02, 2008, 1:30PM

A sixteen year old boy who dares to watch the siege of a house from his shop is casually shot down. A woman who asks a man with a backpack walking up a beach where he was headed is just told to mind her own business. A group of tourists who try to escape through a service area in a... Full story »

November 29, 2008, 11:08AM

The Iraqi Parliament narrowly passed a "status of forces agreement" pact - SOFA - the day before Thanksgiving. But, this is not an agreement for which anyone involved can be thankful. Although the SOFA pact calls for all American troops to leave Iraq by 2011, the Iraqi people can change that by majority vote next summer. The pact also calls... Full story »

November 27, 2008, 1:03PM

Oregon's Big Look task force has turned in its assignment. While the official grading period has not ended, some are giving an "A" for effort. The grade from the Oregon Legislature and ultimately the people of Oregon, the only grade which counts, won't be released until spring when the 2009 Legislature gets down to business. The Big Look task force,... Full story »

November 23, 2008, 2:18PM

During the 2008 Presidential campaign, while our economy was beginning a tailspin, a small but vocal group of individuals were presenting the idea that the mortgage meltdown was actually caused by liberal Democrats. The theory floated was that successive Democratic administrations (meaning Carter and Clinton) had created laws that forced financial institutions to give home loans to those that were... Full story »

November 19, 2008, 9:34AM

Guns don't kill people, people kill people. Yeah, right. Guns may not kill people, but they certainly make it convenient to do so. Today, my brother in San Jose will be attending the funeral of his classmate from college, a man he met in India in 1969 when they were students at the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur. They became... Full story »

November 18, 2008, 5:45PM

In Romeo and Juliet, Act III, scene 3, Friar Laurence chides Romeo for his poor behavior after having been banished from the kingdom for killing Tybalt. Not being able to stand the overwrought dramatics of a standard Renaissance teen, the Friar reminds Romeo of his good fortune, saying: "Thy Juliet is alive. There art thou happy! Tybalt would kill thee,... Full story »

November 16, 2008, 8:42PM

Now that the election is over and the endless political ads have ceased, we can turn our attention to other serious matters, like which mattress company has the most annoying TV spots. Or how long the line has grown for government bailouts. Money from the government has always drawn a crowd. Now, our economy is not at death's door by... Full story »

November 16, 2008, 12:44PM

Alaska governor, Sarah Palin's, entry into presidential politics last summer seemed to make Democrats a little, shall we say, defensive. That was the impression I got, anyway, considering that they immediately declared DEFCON 50 and implemented the only version of the Strategic Defense Initiative the left will ever approve: insults and ridicule lobbed at the Palin family like Patriot missiles... Full story »

November 12, 2008, 4:27PM

Recently, you've begun seeing them. Ads run by disparate groups concerning the push for energy independence and clean energy. Ads by men such as T. Boone Pickens who encourages the use of wind energy and running vehicles on natural gas are suddenly everywhere. It doesn't take a genius, a business tycoon, or a former vice president of the United States... Full story »

November 11, 2008, 10:07AM

I was inspired to write this piece in honor of my uncle shortly after the terrorist attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001. I have a photograph that I keep put away. It is of a young man who I've never met because he died in 1945, 15 years before I was born. It shows a smiling... Full story »

November 10, 2008, 5:42PM

Naomi Klein is an award-winning journalist, columnist and author of the New York Times and international bestseller, The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism. It's a book about the Bush Administration's use of "crisis" to push through its own initiatives, using those events to twist our constitution to its own ends and funnel money to its own friends. In... Full story »

November 09, 2008, 3:12PM

Sometimes big change occurs when small actions, properly taken clear the air and provide confidence in and respect for our leaders. With the election of Senator Barack Obama to the position of President-Elect, a small part of the change he promised is beginning to take hold in Washington. Well, maybe not IN Washington just yet but if an extraordinary event... Full story »

November 09, 2008, 2:01PM

Joseph Campbell, author, student of comparative mythology and comparative religion, describing the singular event that most marked the passage into personal transformation, said, "The really big change in people's lives, is in recognizing that life is going on inside of us as well as outside." This "rebirth" of consciousness is an inner awareness each person experiences for him or herself,... Full story »

November 07, 2008, 9:37AM

It is the eagle, flying high above that first sails in the new light of dawn, while all below still search in darkness for the light . Two remarkable world events have occurred in the past weeks, in turn shaking and moving humanity. The first, a collapse of the global financial system threatens the standard of living of every person... Full story »